Encyclopedia of Mary Sues
by Ellie Quirk
Summary: An in-depth study of the Mary-Sue symptoms, causes, types, diagnosis and cures.
1. Introduction

Long time, no see. I promise my other stuff is getting back on track; however, my life is incredibly annoying and likes to eat my time like the terrible glutton of intangible things it is. In the meantime, please enjoy "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

-Ellie

INTRODUCTION- wherein we meet Ms. Mary, her perpetrators and start to cover her Reason for Being.

The term Mary-Sue has an interesting place in the world of online fiction and fan fiction; constantly avoided, inadvertently created and absolutely the worst insult ever to be bestowed on a character. First-time writers and amateurs therefore find themselves walking on eggshells in an effort to belay these accusations.

But who is Mary-Sue? In the vernacular she is considered to be an all round "perfect" character, with highly enviable skills and attributes. She is usually the romantic interest of a favorite character and constantly saves the other characters or, at the very least, upstages them. In _everything_. She has no weaknesses, only strengths (unless, of course, a weakness is required in the plot, or as a ditch effort to defend the Sue). And every writer has conjured up a Sue at some point in his or her career. No, really. And save for a few notable exceptions (S. Meyer comes to mind), they usually remain hidden away forever, unearthed only as a reminder of humble beginnings.

The term for this sort of character came from a parody of this sort of character in the pre-internet fan fiction community. Yes, this was a real thing. Comprised of Trekkers. Woot woot. The character, Lieutenant Mary Sue, originated in Paula Smith's 1973 short story, "A Trekkie's Tale". She was fifteen and a half (Mary Sue, that is), and promptly got it on with Spock. Or something like that.

Believe it or not, Sues are actually a necessary part of the writer's development, and an essential step in character development skills, as the Sue can serve as an illustration for what is too much when creating a character. However, this outcome occurs _only_ if the author is made aware of his or her error; otherwise, Sues can become a permanent part of the writing style. Sues also serve an important role in self-discovery; the creation of an idealized fantasy self can lead to many revelations about innermost desires, fears and needs.

Enough of the (moderately) good things about Sues, it's time to go backstage. As mentioned above, most Mary-Sues are sources of wish fulfillment for the author; however much it may be denied, they tend to be self-inserts. "Everything Sue does, you do" sort of philosophy. Fantasizing is perfectly normal and almost everyone does it at some point or another. However, this doesn't have to be foisted on us, now does it?

Stay tuned for part two!


	2. Sue Type Profile: Classic Sue

Welcome to part two of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

Also, shout out to whomever it was who visited from Lithuania. Seriously, you live in the best country ever. Name wise, anyway; I've never been there.

-Ellie

Types of Sues - Classic!Sue and a brief outline on the layout of Sue profiles.

From here on in we'll be covering some specifics on major types of Sues. This will be done in a sort of "Profile" format, like so:

Type!Sue

A little blip in here with a summary of the Sue, generalized for quick synthesis. You'll be a snarky cynic in NO TIME!

Name: A description of trends within this genre, possibly some examples.

Appearance: Defining physical characteristics of this type.

Personality: Defining mental characteristics of this type.

"Perks": The sorts of things this Sue generates in her wake.

WTF Factor: Reasons her existence is completely illogical and unrealistic.

A Moment in the life: My feeble attempts at writing about one of these characters and maintaining my sanity at the same time. (These will be placed in whatever fandom I feel best suits the type. Probably Harry Potter, in honor of PotterSues.)

On with the show.

Classic!Sue

The "typical" Sue, obviously the most easily recognized and parodied. Gorgeous, privileged, sometimes tragic, but always, always, blatant fangirl fapping avatar.

Name: Usually flowery (in a literal or figurative sense), long or old fashioned. E.g. Rose, Madeline, Rowena, Daniella-Mae, Felicity Faith Nicola Violet Bergamot Elizabeth Carra-Lynn Marie.

Appearance: In the extreme. Tiny or tall, pale or dark, there is no middle of the road. Constants include "curves in all the right places" but otherwise slender, unusual, bright, or dual-colored eyes and long, flowing, feminine hair.

Personality: A can-do kind of girl; smart, funny, sweet, brave and unspeakably modest. A hopeless romantic to boot.

"Perks": Gets the author's favorite character(s) romantically interested in her. Has a terrible habit of being integral to competitions/wars/prophecies and the like. Great success at every turn, though nothing notable, as this is a basic Sue.

WTF Factor: If Barbie were alive, she wouldn't be a happy camper. Her proportions would give her massive back pain, her neck would most likely snap under the weight of her head, and if you think she'd walk around on those gimpy perma-point feet of hers, you'd be dead wrong. Pile all that with her apparent ability to juggle a veterinary practice, family clinic, ballet career and about 30 different closeted husbands, and you have a recipe for disaster. Not only does the Classic!Sue do her equivalent of all this, but she also looks better than a plastic doll ever could while she does it.

A Moment in the life:

I waited impatiently at platform 9 ¾, staring at the clock. Would the train ever arrive? I peered through the bars of the cage of my pet horned owl, Foxwick. Her majestic eyes were a stunning aquamarine, much like my own. I cooed softly to her, my voice husky and sweet, reassuring. Though I was fifteen, this was my first year going to Hogwarts. My parents, eminent Aurors, had home schooled me until now. So Foxwick was as nervous as I was.

"Hullo," I heard a voice behind me and stood up abruptly. I turned and saw a boy my age, with tousled black hair and shining green eyes behind broken, round glasses.

"Um... H-hello," I muttered nervously, brushing a lock of chestnut hair behind one of my pale, ever so slightly pointed ears.

"I'm Harry," the boy piped up, "Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter! Oh, my god. That's amazing! I knew you went... but I thought- I mean, I figured you'd get to Hogwarts some other way."

He looked embarrassed at my reaction, and I immediately felt guilty. He probably didn't like being reminded of his fame; he'll probably hate me forever, I thought.

"My guardians are muggles, so no, I take the train like everyone else." He looked coyly at me under his shining ebony bangs. "I don't think I caught your name."

"Oh! Uh," I struggled to remember, and my cheeks flushed delicate pink with embarrassment. "I'm Adele. Adele Preston."

Beyond this point is NOT for the faint of heart. Tune in next time!


	3. Sue Type Profile: Alternative Sue

Welcome to part three of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

Hamsters are cool.

-Ellie

Alternative!Sue

These ones can be subcategorized into Goth!, Punk!, Emo!, Scene!, etc. But I'm not posting all that because 1) I'm lazy and 2) these are Sues we're talking about, so they all boil down to a Hot Topic Mall Rat variety of "dark". Alt!Sue is what happens when Classic!Sue gets mad at her parents and dyes her hair black.

Name: Again, long and flowery, but with a twist of nouns. Things associated with the night and ancient mythology are popular. E.g. Nepthys, Pandora, Raven, Moon, Camphor.

Appearance: Often pale, curvy like a Classic!Sue or can be lanky and more androgynous. Cropped or edgy haircuts, usually covering the face, in black or neon colors. Light eyes are still popular, though black might be chosen because they reflect Sue's "dark soul". Red eyes if she is another species. Alt!Sues have a tendency to be demons, vampires etc for some reason. They have their "own style", meaning fishnets, combat boots and plaid skirts.

Personality: Rebellious, dislikes authority and quirky. Depending on how angsty the author is, she can be a bit bitchy, sorrowful or even depressed.

"Perks": Despite a general defiance of any rules and authority, this Sue never seems to get into any trouble or feel any repercussions of her bad behavior (unless they are positive). She also tends to influence canon characters to adopt her style, and is often paired with the "bad boy" canon character.

WTF Factor: As mentioned above, Alt!Sue never feels the backlash of her actions, yet they can range from simple dress code violations to crime. Reality check, Suethor: Nobody can outrun the law forever. Also, these girls are frequently described as "depressed", yet they experience no real symptoms of clinical depression; it is not so much an affliction as an excuse to garner sympathy.

A Moment in the life:

The rain streaked down the window, the droplets shining brightly in the light of the full moon. Cassiopeia was curled up in the windowsill, pearly tears rolling down her icy white cheeks. "I feel so alone," she thought. She fiddled with a lock of her onyx hair idly, and started when she heard a familiar voice.

"Cass? You alright?" Edward's silky croon echoed across the room, and he sauntered over to crouch next to her. She vaguely felt his hand rest on her shoulder, and she flicked her topaz eyes over to meet with his.

Cassiopeia couldn't help but feel a wave of love when she saw him, but it was dashed quickly; she was with him now, but how much did his last lover weight in his mind? His wife... "I'm sorry, Edward," she sobbed. "I'm sorry Bella was sacrificed, and I'm sorry you're stuck with me, and – "

He interrupted her with an icy finger on her black-painted mouth. "Not another word."


	4. Sue Type Profile: Exotic Sue

Welcome to part three of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

THIS... IS... CANADA! How's everyone liking the Olympics?

-Ellie

Exotic!Sue

Because somehow Sue is trapped in the 19th century but still knows her way around the iPhone, the lovely ladies of the East and Darkest Africa are still really mysterious and interesting. And if stats can be drawn from fics where they're featured, 90% are royalty. Go figure.

Name: Either garbled, vaguely genuine sounding names or anglicized names a la Classic. E.g. Neytara, Soon-Xia, Junhare or Penelope.

Appearance: The one brand of Sue where nonwhite is broadly used. Skin tones like copper, caramel, golden, chocolate, mocha, and perfectly done marshmallow are current favorites. These girls are usually more athletic than counterparts, and tend to be lean and more animalistic. They have a tribal air about them and

Personality: Usually takes the role of "charmingly confused foreigner", or at the very least uses that as a cover to do improper things, usually of a mild sexual nature. Throws in a few babelfished versions of words in her native tongue to spice up her dialogue and lords her wikipedia knowledge of her culture over everyone to diffuse stereotypes. If royalty, she isn't snobby or elitist, oh no. Instead she is quite modest and tries to hide her heritage and always fails, presumably because the extent of her plan is "ask politely for whoever knows to please not tell and then let it slip out to the love interest".

"Perks": Are mainly for the Suethor. She feels very proud that she (and she alone) is representing a woman of color in her story. She's a revolutionary, a true forward thinker! Bravo! Now everyone's accepting of everyone else and- oh wait, you made her a SHAMAN? Good work Suethor. Yeah. (Sarcasm hand way up.) But Sue does, invariably, get everyone to stop hating on the Rwandans or Timbuktuese or Antlantian or whatever. And she brings back important knowledge to her country along with her canon future king, knowledge about tolerance and love, wireless Internet and _vanilla_ Coca-Cola. Oh yeah.

WTF Factor: First off, there are few countries that actually function under a monarchy with any real power anymore. So yeah, the princess excuse can make Exotic!Sue insanely rich, but not much else. Her sense of entitlement is completely undeserved, anyway. Secondly, with international travel being so widespread (you can lecture me all you like about terrorism, people still flock all over the place) and the inception of the Internet, everything you ever wanted to know about any country is more or less at your fingertips. So goodbye to the mystery. Third, have you ever had an exchange student at your school? Sure, it's cool for about a week, but after awhile they just start relaxing in the melting pot of Western Society and stop flaunting their culture unless they're asked. It's part of human decency to avoid lording your lifestyle as superior over others, and Exotic!Sue just never seems to understand that. And her peers eat it up.

A Moment in the life:

"Ooh, a crown! Can I see it?" Lily gestured to the delicate white gold tiara sitting on Jesminder's dresser.

"Yes, of course," She smiled, her bronze skin dimpling with the gesture as Lily placed the jewelry on her head.

"Oh, I feel like royalty!" She said, twirling with delight. Jesminder laughed.

"You should, it's the Crown of the Lotus, a very sacred flower in Hinduism since the 8th century. It's been in my family for generations. Isn't it _sundara_?"

"What?" Lily stopped. "Jes, what's that mean?"

"Oh I'm sorry! It slipped out. It means beautiful," Lily slipped the circlet from her locks.

"Hmm. Well then, I think I definitely agree with you. It's sundry, all right."

Jesminder laughed. "No, Lily, not sundry! That is English for boring and everyday! You say _sundara_," She rolled the syllables like honey as she took the crown from Lily and gently replaced it on her dresser.


	5. Fanon vs Canon

Welcome to part four of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

I'm taking this opportunity to tip my metaphorical hat to A Machiavellian Figure, who's been superbly awesome in reading and encouraging me. Thanks a lot. ^^

-Ellie

Fanon vs. Canon, and how Sues can be found in both.

Mary-Sues are normally identified as a strictly fan made thing. Nobody rational, with years of training and most importantly a SALARY coming from writing would ever create such an obnoxious monstrosity, right? Right?

Nope, Sues still worm their way into shows, movies and books. And unfortunately, there's no "Review" button for the public (blogging aside), nor will critics ever use the term "Mary-Sue" despite its easily recognized connotations. This character tends to spring from Author's Pet Syndrome, where what was once a background or relatively flat character becomes a favorite of a writer and ends up making progressively more and larger appearances, to the point where they get entire episodes dedicated to their awesomeness. The most common example of this is Star Trek: The Next Generation's Wesley Crusher, who saved the ship every other episode and happened to share a name with the show's creator (Gene Wesley Roddenberry). Hmm. Self-insert, anyone? Of course, this sort of thing is pulled off in a _good_ way in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead", a play (later film) about two of the smallest roles in _Hamlet_. So, as with any such occurrence, there are two sides to the Author Favoritism coin. Giving minor characters dimension is nice, but prominence does not equal dimension. Keep this in mind if trying to bring an entertaining side character more substance in your story.

Professional Sues tend to be a little more understated than their fan counterparts in television and film due to limitations that the camera poses on narration. However, some Sues in literature have been pretty out there. The most notable modern example is Stephenie Meyer's Isabella "Bella" Swan.

Pretty or graceful name? Check. Bella means beautiful in Italian, Swan is a bird typically associated with grace and romance. A "flaw" that doesn't really count? Bella's "clumsiness" hardly ever shows, and when it does, it's at the perfect opportunity for some big strong man to catch her. Which of course brings me to the next point: despite claiming to be rather plain and ordinary, Ms. Swan attracts the attentions of almost every male in a three-mile radius, including that of her favorite marble statue Squidw- er, Edward. And then she falls in love and lives happily ever after, without any problems she solves herself or character development.

Canon Sues, in a nutshell, are regular Sues in a published work. Thankfully, most characters don't suffer from Sueism, but with a few "improvements", fans can fix that and create their very own... (Cue thunderclap) FANON SUE. Yes, the Fanon Sue, where a well-loved character becomes unrecognizable beyond the name, where readers take one glance at this new creation's perfected features and crazy back story and scratch their heads in bewilderment. Fanon, as you probably know, is the series of events in a fanfiction that differ from the original material, but are considered canon within the fiction in question. Sirius is dead? Well with a wave of the FanWand™, he's alive, well and teaching Defense Against The Dark Arts to all the little witches and wizards eager to learn. Fanon characters can range from "slightly different", like Princess Leia with blonde hair just because, to "WTF?", where Mario the Plumber is a muscular, suave businessman who shaved his mustache and insists everyone call him "Philippe". However, most of the characters lean toward the "WTF?" side, of course, and most are blatant "original" characters hoping to use the defense of, "But it's not a Mary-Sue, it's just ____." And as always, to the discerning reader, this just ain't enough.

Next Installment: A Sue of Your Own: Designing a Parody Sue (Without Getting Attached)


	6. Review: Make Your Own Sue

After a major hiatus and some time in the desert I'm back and I bring huge updates! (Well, depending on how much of my stuff you read.) Welcome to part five of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

-Ellie

A Sue of Your Own: Designing a Sue 

Today, class, we're at the interactive portion of our course. That's right: now that you know a little more about Mary-Sues, it's time to make your own, in the spirit of fun. I'll help you through a step-by-step guide to making your own parody Sue, and then we'll resume our unit.

Step One: The Name

As we've learned, a name is very important in any Sue. A Sue's name dictates what sort of person she is, so be very careful in your choice. Remember, the lengthier the better, and with every middle name your Sue has, you get 3 Merits, so hop over to that baby name site. A good practice exercise is giving your Sue a name for every letter in the alphabet, and then adding extras for effect. If, however, this seems _too much _(as if!), limit yourself to five. Also, no less than two syllables in a name.

Step Two: The "Intriguing" Past

Your Sue's past cannot be happy, oh no. It must be convoluted and melodramatic to the point of lunacy. Soap Operas times twelve, one might say. To create the past, go to a Kid's Help Phone website or other support resource. Look through the list of problems and pick at least two. Read up on your topic, take the absolute worst scenarios, and turn them into a rose-scented film noir with grammar mistakes. Divorce or Separation? Sue's parents fought from the day she was born (over how the heck they had such a terrible tot, am I right?) and it only got worse as she grew older. After a huge shouting match with glasses being thrown and possessions being burned, one parent just drove off and was never heard from again... That is, until their body was found in a plane wreck at the bottom of a cliff. See? It's easy!

However, if for personal reasons you don't want to give her a tragic past, go polar opposite: a charmed life will do just fine.

Step Three: The Look

If we recall earlier chapters, certain names dictate certain looks, but things will vary with your preferences. Sues are typically meant to portray ideal beauty: they are a romanticized version of what the Suethor wishes they could be. The easiest version and the first that comes to my mind when thinking about Sues is the Aryan look. (They are hugely popular, which is why I believe Suethors might be semi-fascist, but we're not going to go into that at the present time.) As we've covered, most Sues are pale with light colored eyes. The Aryan model will also have blonde hair and a curvaceous but athletic build. However the main thing is that your Sue be what you, the author and therefore the only person whose opinion matters, believe to be beautiful.

Step Four: The Romantic Interest

Now that you've done the rudimentary building for your Fangirl Fantasy Avatar, it's time to start with the fantasy itself! Pick the work you're bringing the Sue into, take the character you find most attractive and do anything and everything to make that passion bloom, from change of sexuality to killing off their canonical partner. Or sharing them; remember, Sues are ALL ABOUT YOU.

There! Now you have the tools to make a parody of a romantic Sue. Use them for what you will, whether it be making sure your OC isn't becoming a Sue or making outrageous parodies to share and torment!


	7. Dealing With Sues in Your Work

This is part SEVEN of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

-Ellie

Well class, it seems our term will soon be coming to an end (seeing as your dear Professor is running out of ideas). Don't fret; our last few lessons together will hopefully be as enjoyable as those before them. Because the last lessons in this program deal with ruffling, bothering, prodding, tasering, tripping up, poisoning, tickling, tampering with, teaching a lesson to, slapping around, pulling the hair of, poking, staring at, pinching, annoying and eventually eradicating the Sues we've spent the past seven lessons learning about. This one handles methods of eliminating or repairing one's own Sues, the next lesson will entail assisting others in the same practice. Our final lesson and epilogue will summarize once again what we've learned and post guidelines for an entirely optional final exam.

Getting rid of your own Sue is actually much tougher than one might think. For most the problems lie in _finding_ Ms. Mary; often enough we'll have such confidence in our own work that minor details such as obnoxiously perfect characters simply slip past unnoticed. To overcome this, you have to edit ruthlessly. Think like a professional editor, and read all of your work as if you'd never read it before. If necessary, leave the work for a while before editing: like many things, the quality of your writing might not be as great as you remembered it to be, once revisited. If you are dissatisfied by your work, or find a Mary-Sue character, by no means should you be discouraged; writing is a skill and only gets better through practice. Writers are always learning, even the prolific old guys like Stephen King.

If you don't find a Sue, no problem, continue with the work as planned. If you do, however, find a character who's a little too perfect, there are a few paths to take; you could always scrap him or her completely. This is usually best if you want to avoid the common pitfall of getting attached to characters, as opposed to seeing them as tools. Getting too close to fictional creations can be damaging to your work, as your desire to make things go "well" for them makes for dull reading. If, however, you should choose to salvage it, you are looking at a good deal of extra work. First, compare your character to the list in the previous chapter, or use one of the many quizzes available on this miraculous Information Superhighway (search for Mary Sue Litmus Test for some of the better ones). How many Sue traits does your character have? Remember that a Sue is not identified by having one special ability or irregularity, but a number of them highly disproportionate to other characters. Take note of any advice external resources give on helping your character. If you're comfortable, ask friends or fellow writers for a second opinion: while you might have some "Sueish" aspects to your character, it might not be an issue. Ask them to be constructive with criticism; it's far more helpful if they suggest how you can change things rather than just what they dislike.

After awhile you will get faster at finding your own Sues, maybe even create a shortcut to finding exactly what's causing the problem. However, the Sue phenomena varies from case to case; though there is a general opinion of what is _commonly_ present in a Mary-Sue, most will have their own ways of annoying the crap out of an audience. Professionals often will go through many drafts, revisions and editors before publishing their work, so the process of weeding out your Sues is, in the end, beneficial to you as a writer.


	8. Constructively Criticizing Sues

This is part eight of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

-Ellie

If you've been on the Internet (lovingly referred to as "teh Interwebz") for any period of time, you've likely learned that it is a rancid, slimy pit of maggots with very little grammatical knowledge and far too much intimate knowledge of your mother. Outside of class, you can do whatever you want. If you like to tell off Bieber fans with some major caps lock abuse and every single synonym for "eunuch" you can find, by no means should this lesson stop you. However, now that you've become partially my responsibility, I am going to teach you how to use tact when dealing with Suethors. The lesson's principles can be applied anywhere, of course, and I strongly recommend being a courteous commentor / blogger / troll, but I won't interfere with your personal life. Now, let's move on, shall we?

Hypothetical scenario: you've just read a Fic with a Sue. And not just any Sue. A mind-numbing, horrifying thing that seriously just made your nose hair curl and your eyelashes run away in terror. The kind of Sue whose very existence makes you absolutely certain that somewhere, a spider just swallowed a kitten whole. Point being, it's pretty devastating. What can you do? Walk away and search once again for mind bleach? No, you can't possibly let this... _Thing_ stick around and still be able to sleep at night. So you're left to provide feedback. In fact, I'll go ahead and say it's your _duty_ to provide feedback.

Now, while every fiber of your being may want to leave a scathingly clever wall of derogatory text in that review box, don't do it. I restrain myself from egging my neighbors with the tacky Christmas display; you can manage to rethink this theoretical review. For a moment, think as a fellow writer. Recalling the introductory lesson, you'll know that "Mary-Sue" is a pretty hefty insult for a character. Granted, some people aren't meant to be professional writers, but that's no reason to go spew word diarrhea of hatred all over the place. Yes, characters are tools, but they're fairly valuable tools, and unconstructive jibber jabber isn't going to improve anyone's writing. If anything, the Suethor will just ignore outright hate posts.

Instead, think carefully about your choice of words for your criticism. What is it about the Sue that really bothered you? Think of a few traits and focus on them in your comment. Point out ways to improve rather than flaws to get rid of. Does the Sue have _everyone's_ romantic interest? Suggest that the volume of suitors is not only pretty unbelievable, but detracts from the protagonist's romantic choice being a source of conflict. If a brawl breaks out every time Sue accepts a date, it starts feeling trivial. If the Suethor cares about developing his or her storytelling ability, not just publishing personal fantasies, they'll take heed. This is not to say that there aren't just a bunch of really obstinate Fic writers out there: despite your best efforts to be nice about breaking bad news, don't expect gratitude.


	9. Further Reading and Final Exam

This is the ninth and final part of "The Encyclopedia of Mary-Sues", the content of which is 100% mine. A brief note: this is entirely tongue-in-cheek, no harm meant whatsoever. If you find yourself offended, press the back button, close your eyes and the feeling should pass.

-Ellie

I started this entirely out of boredom, and it's been by far the most successful thing I've ever written. My thanks go out to all of you who bothered to read, whether you reviewed or not. Hopefully, you'll finish this little story older and wiser, maybe come out of the whole ordeal a little bit better at writing and reviewing fan fiction. At the very least, I hope you've learned a thing or two about Sues and had a few laughs, because that's all I _really_ wanted to do.

But the scourge of amateur fiction isn't going to go away on its own. Now that you're armed with knowledge, head forth into the belly of the beast: be ever vigilant for Sues, and do your best to (nicely) get rid of 'em. Hate the sin, love the sinner, all that. Because deny it all you like, but _we've all done the exact same thing_.

Further Reading

Springhole's Mary-Sue Litmus

The Most Reliable Source Ever (Wikipedia)

TV Tropes on Ms. Mary

The (Entirely Optional) Final Exam

You've been given enough knowledge of Sues, including a lovely little review to build your own. That was your preparation, now write a Sue fic (at least 300 words) where your darling protagonist gets the treatment she'd _really_ get for being so obnoxious. You may hand it in through PM or as a Review.


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